Joe v. Morris Round II (Joe's AAR)

[Morris]

I suggest Omsk & Moscow, after that it will be down the hill

It is day dream for Axis to get Omsk on GS 2.1 if the Allies does perform too bad !

[Crazygunner1]

I suggest Omsk & Moscow, after that it will be down the hill

Always seems easier to head down south downhill

[Cybvep]

The question is, what will Morris expect?

[Peter Stauffenberg]

I don't think the Germans need to capture a lot of territory in 1942. The main job for Germany is to kill Russian units in 1942 so the Russian offensive firepower for the 1943 winter offensive is weakened. If the Russian tanks can be destroyed in the German 1942 Summer offensive then Germany will be in a good position.

Eventually the Allies will overwhelm the Axis, but they have quite a lot of work ahead of them. They need to win in North Africa and knock Italy out of the war, they need to liberate England and land in France. They also need to start the Russian steamroller.

So far the western Allies do nothing to hurt the Germans, i. e. no strategic bombing or offensive in the Mediterranean. So Joerock can afford to send most of his builds to the east to keep the Russians at bay.

Looking at the situation I think the only danger for Joe is the German oil reserves. If they hit 0 then the Russians can attack with no fear of counter attacks. So maybe a good Axis strategy could be to rush towards the Maikop and Grozny oilfields to get more oil production. Boosting industry tech to get more oil from the synth oil plants seems like a good idea too.

I think Joe will benefit if Morris decides to defend far west in Russia. If Morris runs to safety with his units he saves his tanks at the expense of territory. Joerock will burn oil just moving the armor and air units eastwards. I think having to give up so much territory in Russia during the Fall and Winter 1941 cost the Germans a lot of oil because the oil consuming units had to move instead of being railed. That will limit the Axis offensive in 1942. Fortunately for the Germans the western Allies don't bleed their oil reserves yet.

It could be that the Germans can't afford to get tech upgrades if it means higher oil consumption. This is a typical dilemma for the panzers and Luftwaffe bombers.

The German Summer offensive is probably already started since this AAR has a delay of several turns. So Morris and Joe probably know where the German offensive will be.

[Morris]

Borger : you are really farsighted ! one thing I have to report that USSR tech is in good progress & have top limited labs .

[Cybvep]

I don't know, guys. I wouldn't be surprised if getting to Grozny would cost Joe more oil than he would get out of the oil fields in that area. I doubt that he would reach Baku, as it's very hard and costly and it's too easy to flush the Germans out of the area by attacking Rostov.

IMO Joe should concentrate on destroying Morris' heavy units, then rest, conserve oil and prepare a strong defence line for winter. Anything else is secondary, going for Stalingrad and the oil fields is ok only if Morris moves too many units to the Moscow Region.

[Plaid]

Well. if someone runs out of oil with axis in 2.1 it will be just great AAR to read.
I still have no idea how its done.
Before 2.0 release it was common for me to have something like 200-300 after 1941 campaign in russia and hit something near 0 in 1942 or 1943.
Now I just ignore oil with axis, as allies usualy do, and I never ran out of it, to be honest.

[ncali]

I nearly ran out in my game with richardsd (see AAR's) with GS 2.1 pre-release version. But it was under unusual circumstances.

Still, a 1940 Sealion and a 1941 Barbarossa do make oil an issue so I can see why it may be at least a consideration here. But I expect the limited Allied bombing due to the UK occupation should make things ok in the long-term.

[joerock22]

I definitely think I could run out of oil if I am not careful. I did use a lot during the winter moving and counterattacking, but the alternative was to spend a fortune on extra rail. I was already overspending by 3-6 PPs every turn (making sure the poor Italians paid the extra costs). So I don't see a grand move to the Caucuses in my future. I will not overextend myself and give Morris a chance to beat me up. Spending oil to capture oil wells that you will only hold for a few turns does not make much sense to me, and I know Morris will throw everything he has at me during the winter if I move too far south past Rostov. Axis forces in the east are still not as strong as they would be in a normal game, at least for me.

Still, I think I can accomplish quite a bit. Where the strike will come will depend a lot on where Morris chooses to defend and with what units. Stay tuned.

[joerock22]

Turn 45 – January 28, 1942

Lost 3 corps on Morris’s turn, none of them German. The southern line is falling apart and needs to withdraw again. But the Soviets are struggling to make headway in the center; I have forced them into a nice bottleneck which gives me the chance to strike back.

Out west, a 4-step UK sub attacking my weak BB in port was sunk by air support and a response from the BB.

USSR Center





USSR South

[joerock22]

Turn 46 – February 17, 1942

The Russians do well, especially in the center; 4 German corps are killed and another reduced to 2 steps. I expected to lose some units and steps, but not that much. With the loss of Kiev and the river line fragmented, I pulled back to better defensive positions in a couple areas. I see no reason to defend forward positions where Morris can attack me from 3 or 4 sides.

USSR Center



Sorry for the messy screenshot. I screwed up taking the post-turn, so I had to combine pre and post on one screenshot. The green lines represent the new defensive line after my turn, and the yellow X’s are where I’ve placed garrisons to slow the Russians down. My hope is that Morris will have to deal with the garrisons first, and won’t be able to make any of my front-line units “retreat forward.” That’s always the danger with strategic withdrawals—if you get unlucky, your units can get picked off.

USSR South

[joerock22]

A big hurricane is supposed to hit Connecticut tonight or tomorrow. There is a strong likelihood that I will lose power for an extended period of time. Last year, my house didn't get power back until 95% of the town already had it back (the downside to living out in the woods). So it looks like this game may have to be put on hold simply because I will have no access to a functioning computer.

[Cybvep]

I bet that this is Morris' conspiracy!

[Morris]

I bet that this is Morris' conspiracy!

God knows I am innocent ! & God bless Joe !

[Crazygunner1]

I havent seen that much reinforcements arriving, have you built any? What have you built?

[joerock22]

I havent seen that much reinforcements arriving, have you built any? What have you built?

It was tough to build during the winter with such a high repair bill. I did max out mechs (9) and convert two of them to SS. Air and tank production is beginning in the summer. But I can't afford to run too many oil-consuming units, so that will be a consideration for my build strategy as well.

[Crazygunner1]

I havent seen that much reinforcements arriving, have you built any? What have you built?

It was tough to build during the winter with such a high repair bill. I did max out mechs (9) and convert two of them to SS. Air and tank production is beginning in the summer. But I can't afford to run too many oil-consuming units, so that will be a consideration for my build strategy as well.

Yeah i was afraid of that... There are two options in my opinion to withstand the russian winter.
1 is to stand ground and fill in the gaps.
2 is to withdraw and give ground to save pps and build new units to become stronger.

I think you landed in between...with some combat and losses but only corps and mostly axis minors due to skillful withdraws. Like you said what hurts the most is oil spent and repairs during winter.

Look at my aar against zechi, same thing happen to me got caught in between. This is why i love the russian campaign...full of challanges and different options

[Morris]

This is why i love the russian campaign...full of challanges and different options

I love Russian campaign too ! That's real war !complicated enough !

[joerock22]

Finally got power back! Will try to play a turn and post to the AAR tomorrow, Morris. Nobody in my area is very happy with the power company. Still, I'm grateful that I did not lose my house like some people further south. Hopefully that will be the last major storm for awhile.

[Morris]

Finally got power back! Will try to play a turn and post to the AAR tomorrow, Morris. Nobody in my area is very happy with the power company. Still, I'm grateful that I did not lose my house like some people further south. Hopefully that will be the last major storm for awhile.

God bless your house ! It was really a super hurricane ! We saw what happened around your hometown . There are several my friends who live in Newyork still difficult to get gas . But Everything will become better !
Best wishes !